Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2

It’s a hard argument to make that Harry Potter isn’t one of the best franchises of all time. This final movie is pretty much proof of that. When you think about it this movie series is something to behold, almost all of the actors played the same characters over basically eight movies. That is unheard of, every film, even with slight issues is a solid movie. It speaks to the fans of the books and to movie fans who have never touched a page. That is very impressive. If you don’t know the plot, it continues from the first film, Voldemort is taking over. His Death Eaters are killing off the good guys and slowly taking power in every part of the magical world. Harry Potter and his faithful friends Hermoine and Ron continue their mission to pick off Horocruxes(part of Voldemort’s evil soul) before finally having the showdown with the evil wizard himself.

David Yates brings a darkness and an amazing visual style to this film. The task here is very difficult, the book basically has us following our leads on their mission during an epic battle at Hogwarts school of magic. The combination really works here, I’m sure many would prefer just seeing an all out magic war movie but that’s not what this film is about. This is is about Harry Potter and his closest friends making decisions that could save the world and the weight these choices have on them. You may have to see this movie more than just once, the battle scenes move at a quick pace, you may miss something.

When it comes to the actors Daniel Radcliffe shines, in the earlier films he was frankly stiff and not good. He was out acted by Emma Watson and Rupert Grint up until the recent films. Here he shines, he’s obviously comfortable with the character and it work for the audience. Watson and Grint frankly don’t have a lot to do in this movie besides having side dialogue. This film is about Harry and Voldemort, speaking of him Ralph Fiennes finally had something to bite into. He got to have fun in Goblet of Fire but here he gives Voldemort a personality, not just some evil dark force, Voldemort continually seems scared and nervous. Towards the end he almost is grasping at straws. Every time Fiennes is on screen you can’t help but enjoy it. He gives what should be a one tone villain a lot of depth. Alan Rickman finally gets to play Snape with emotional depth, his scenes are heavy, and if you don’t find yourself a little choked up watching them, well you need to look inside yourself and try to open your heart.

The thing about this movie is it really does need to be watched with the first part. As a stand alone film it can feel rushed. We jump right into action really and since most of the character moments happened in part one, we feel like some actors and characters get no screen time, we forget though they had a lot in the first part of the film.

Harry Potter fans should feel lucky, barely ever do franchises get to end on such a high note. I get many write off these books and films as “kids fare” but it’s far from that. These characters go through so much that frankly anyone from any age can connect to. Harry Potter even in the world of magic is one of the most realistic heroes we’ve ever had. He continues to live and win through the help of his friends, and not giving up, never at any point do we believe that Harry is more powerful than any villain he faces, but he is braver, and that is what matters. I won’t go into any other details about the film or the ending, but when the screen fades to black and David Yates name come up, you know you’ve experienced something. You can compare it to Star Wars, but it’s different, the books and films are important pieces to not just one generation but many. Sure I believe this is not the end, more stories will come, like Star Wars I think the universe will expand. Either author J.K. Rowling will write more or she’ll allow other writers to expand it. Whatever happens it will not change what these stories have meant to people. Every person on this planet can connect to the world of magic and one of these characters. That is something special. This final movie may have flaws, but that is life, Deathly Hollows part 2 is an ending no one should miss.